


Until We Meet for the First Time

by CosmoKid



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Kiss, First Meetings, Hinted Clintasha - Freeform, Hinted Loki/Tony, M/M, Nat is a good bro, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, squint or you'll miss it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 23:26:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8346931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmoKid/pseuds/CosmoKid
Summary: In which an excerpt of the first conversation your soulmate has about you is etched onto your skin. Steve feels insignificant and Bucky is scared of fucking up.





	

Steve had always hated his soulmate mark, he just fucking hated it. Other people had these star-struck conversations about how cute their soulmate was and Steve’s had reflected his life story perfectly which meant extremely negatively:

_Which? The blonde one?_

_Shit, I hadn’t even seen the blonde one_

Most days, he laughed it off, it wasn’t the first time someone hadn’t noticed him. But it was horrible, the idea that your own soulmate didn’t even notice you. Steve had spent his whole life in the shadows of others, Peggy had always been better than him at sports, Tony had always been smarter and richer. Steve was just a skinny, little kid who clearly had never met puberty. No one cared enough to pay attention to him, he was used to it.

He’d just hoped that maybe his soulmate would be different.

 

~~*~~

 

Soulmate marks were always known as romantic and beautiful and elegant. Bucky’s wasn’t. 

_You could climb that guy like a tree Rogers_

_And what? Steal his nuts? Shut it Stark_

It was probably the most sarcastic soulmate mark ever found. Every person he’d met had either snorted at it or informed Bucky that he had a crude soulmate. 

When he was a kid, he’d never understood why his Mom would scowl every time she saw the back of his neck and why she’d grumble about how inappropriate it was. He was always so confused about it, what was inappropriate about tree climbing? And how could someone climb him like a tree? He’d always assumed that it was because stealing was wrong. By the age of twelve, Bucky was completely aware of why adults didn’t find it amusing or appropriate.

He’d be a liar if he didn’t admit to scouring the news, the phone book, the internet and all social media to try to find someone named Stark or Rogers who was small enough to climb him like a tree. Turns out there were quite a few people who fit that description which was disheartening, but he had quite a ‘meh’ attitude to soulmates anyway, he’d find his soulmate when he’d find his soulmate.

 

~~*~~

 

The day had been pretty shitty so far for Steve. First, he’d woken up late and gotten to his lecture late and then Tony had shown up halfway through the lecture and essentially stole Steve because he wanted coffee and no one questioned him because his father funded the entire college. Most of the college had a theory that Tony and Steve were dating just for the sheer number of times Tony just took Steve out of lectures because he felt like it. The only reason some were sceptical about it was because of their soulmate marks. Tony’s one said something about him being a ‘mewling quim’ which is a phrase that no one had ever heard before, including Steve.

After Tony had stolen him for coffee, he’d decided that he no longer wanted coffee and had left Steve waiting for two coffees while Tony went to get a Subway instead. Then the barista had somehow messed up his name despite it being one of the easiest to spell names ever. There’s no ‘I’ in Steve. 

Then Tony had seen some kind of drone flying around or something and had shoved his sandwich into Steve’s chest and ran across the street, nearly being hit by a car. As his bad luck would always prevail, the driver decided to yell at Steve instead of Tony and called him a ‘mewling quim’ (apparently some people had actually heard of the insult) so today had been pretty shitty.

When he finally joined Tony, he found out that it was a ‘particularly shiny’ pigeon which pissed him off even more. He’d question why he was friends with Tony except he knew that it’s because he had no one else to be friends with. 

“Hey Steve,” Tony drawled, “See the tall guy over there?” Tony motioned to where a giant man and a red head were standing, “You could climb that guy like a tree Rogers.” Such eloquent words had never been spoken.

Normally, Steve wasn’t that sarcastic, but he was tired and done with the day, “And what? Steal his nuts? Shut it Stark,” he nearly snapped, simpered more so with his eyes glaring slightly at Tony’s smirk.

“Not steal,” Tony explained with ridiculous and questionable hand gestures as if Steve was a child, “Just borrow.” Steve heaved a sigh while absent-mindedly scratching his arm in boredom and aggravation. 

“You realise just because I look like a kid does not mean that I am a kid, right?” Steve questioned, cocking his head slightly and raising his eyebrows in exasperation. Steve hated how many people treated him based on his height rather than him. Puberty may have skipped him physically, but his mind had changed as he grew. He’d gotten some of the highest grades in his classes and he’d always had opinions that weren’t that bad. They were normally pretty accepting and well informed. Everyone ignored that, though, they’d just decided that because Steve struggled to reach five foot, he must need to be treated like a child. He hated it. 

“Whatever you say kiddo.” Tony ruffled Steve’s hair while smirking, “Wait, are you scratching your soulmate mark?” Tony’s voice was suddenly excited and he stood up straight, eyes fixed on Steve’s arm which slowed down with the scratching.

“What?” Steve tried to say, but Tony was too busy pulling his arm away and pushing up his sleeve to pay attention or notice. Slightly ironic, considering his soulmate mark is essentially someone not noticing him and Tony looking at it rather than noticing him. That summed his life up perfectly.

“That is your soulmate mark!” Tony punched the air as if he was victorious and not just observant, “I bet Groot over there is your soulmate! Oh my god, he has to be! I want that to be his mark.” Tony was clearly a very nice person.

“First off, if the dude is my soulmate, which he is not, you are under no circumstances allowed to call him Groot.” Steve almost wanted to waggle his finger at Tony like he was a disappointed teacher, “Second off, personal space dude!” Steve backed up, pushing Tony’s hand off his arm. Today had been a weird day.

“We’re finding out right now Steve!” Steve didn’t even get the chance to protest before Tony had grabbed him to attempt to drag him over to ‘Groot’. 

“Cap!” Steve had never been happier to hear the voice of their other friend Clint and that wasn’t even a lie or an exaggeration because it meant that Tony stopped dragging him. He was still annoyed by the nickname that they’d all seemed to have adopted since that one time Steve was the captain of their team in gym class and they actually hadn’t come last. Steve was horrific in gym class, he didn’t understand why they even made him take it. He clearly wasn’t going to succeed whatsoever considering his sporadic asthma attacks and migraines that came from over exertion. They really should have just excluded him. 

He hated gym. It was the only class, other than art, where he was ever noticed and that was because he had at least one asthma attack for every two lessons of gym. He also spent a lot of gym class sitting out because of the searing pain in his head and feeling faint and unsteady because the teacher didn’t quite get that overexertion for Steve led to migraines and migraines were horrible and the devil reincarnate. 

“Hey Clint,” Steve grumbled, trying to (and ultimately failing) sound positive. He’d had a testing day.

“Who jizzed in your Cornflakes Rogers?” Steve loved how eloquent and well-spoken his friends were. 

“Hopefully his soulmate over there,” Stark commented with a smirk. Steve just about choked on his words after that. 

“Fuck you Stark,” he managed after regaining his breath and composure. 

“Wait what the fuck did I miss?” Clint sounded and looked more confused than Steve felt when Tony decided to give him a lecture on thermonuclear astrophysics. Seriously, why did Tony feel the need to natter on about subjects that none of his friends, except for Bruce, understand? 

“I told Steve that he could climb the grunge looking guy like a tree with the redhead over there and then he started itching his soulmate mark,” Tony explained, pointing a little too obviously towards the guy in question. Steve just loved having Tony as a friend.

Steve looked expectantly towards Clint for a reply, but Clint was too busy doubling over with laughter. Great to see that his friends took this completely seriously and clearly cared. He was probably being a little too harsh, but he just didn’t want to sleep.

“Got any other psychosomatic symptoms, Rogers?” Tony asked, his voice bright with laughter, “Itchy, sweaty palms or any unusual blushes? Are there any stray tears in your eyes?” Just to check, Tony poked the corner of Steve’s eyes. He really didn’t understand what personal space meant, did he? Steve let out another sigh, grumbling incomprehensibly in agitation. 

“Leave it to rest,” Steve snapped, trying his best to ignore the itch in his palms and to silently choke back the tears in eyes. Today was not the day he needs to meet his soulmate considering how sarcastic he was going to be.

There was also a little voice in the back of his head reminding him that his soulmate probably wouldn’t have noticed him. No one noticed Steve, no one cared enough to notice Steve. He didn’t blame them, he was a tiny little guy who would get knocked over by a stray wind. Not to mention, he was probably the most infuriating person anyone has met. He was too small to be as argumentative and angry as he was and he always corrected people without even realising. Not to mention all his health complications, it meant his soulmate would have to deal with a lot of shit. Whoever that was, they didn’t deserve that. No one should have to deal with him and all his problems.

“In other news, that red head is as hot as her hair,” Clint interjected, finally done with the laughter. Steve smiled slightly, happy that they were past their last conversation topic.

“Always so eloquent Barton,” Steve muttered, “Poetry just isn’t your strong suit, is it?” Steve grinned as Clint pretended to get him into a headlock which nearly choked Steve as per usual. There was no in between with his friends, they either nearly killed him or treated him as if he was made of glass. He didn’t know which one he was more thankful form, them treating him like they would everyone else or them being considerate and remembering that Steve was pretty much a glass sculpture to their limestone and concrete statues.

“I hope that’s her soulmate mark,” Tony smirked, flashing what Steve could only call crazy eyes at Clint, probably in an attempt to be playful. Steve suddenly had a question as to how many Tony did that with his sunglasses on with no one noticing. His nose scrunched up slightly while he thought, itching his palms to try to clear his mind.

“Still better than climb him like a tree.”

 

~~*~~

 

It was becoming very apparent that ‘Spot the Soulmate’ was Nat’s favourite game. She’d made Bucky play it three times this week and the weekend hadn’t even started. They only ever played based on Bucky’s mark as well since apparently, his was much easier. If they just saw a small person who looked particularly sarcastic, they’d be set.

“I bet he’s your soulmate,” Nat commented, nodding her head in the direction she wanted Bucky to look. His gaze locked onto a skinny, blonde kid and someone with a semi-familiar face. He probably ordered something at the Russian café Bucky worked in once.

“Which? The blonde one?” The blonde one was definitely small enough to climb Bucky like a tree. There was something captivating about him, you could just tell that the kid had determination and would fight for what he believed in even if he was about four foot three. Bucky wasn’t sure where that came from, maybe his body language and the way he seemed to stand on the balls of his feet, tiptoeing slightly. 

“Shit, I hadn’t even seen the blonde one.” Nat did a double take before her eyes focused on him. Bucky could just tell what she was doing, they’d been friends for too long. He’d known Nat since they were in diapers, it just so happened that they were the two Russian kids in the nursery and spent most of the time there speaking Russian to one another because the confusion on their teacher’s face was quite funny. 

Nat had always been there for him, through his first fight, first football game, first detention, and first crush. Whenever he needed her, she was there. She’d laughed with him when he’d called his teacher a ‘mountainous dick of pissweasels’, she’d held him when his mother passed and he couldn’t stop crying, she’d hugged him and wouldn’t let go when he came out to her. She was the best friend anyone would ever have and had been patient with him no matter how many times he’d fucked up.

“That’s pretty uncharacteristic of you Nat,” Bucky commented while brushing his hair out of his face and wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead, “What? Did you think he was just talking to himself? My soulmate might need to be slightly crazy to love me, but not that crazy.” He pushed her gently which led to her pushing back and Bucky ending about a foot away from where he began. He feared for the day someone questioned Nat’s strength.

“Shut it Barnes, you’re like a big teddy bear, you’re not difficult to love.” Nat ‘gently’ pushed him while she spoke, “The dude he’s with is Tony Stark, I was going to make a joke about how your soulmate would be the bratty rich kid everyone loves to hate, but as per usual, you don’t know who anyone is.” She glared at him for about a second before her face broke out into a grin.

“Oh is that why he looks familiar?” He smirked, scratching the back of his neck.

“Oh fuck you,” Nat giggled, “So what do you think? Reckon the blonde guys your soulmate? I’m fairly certain your mark has Stark in it.” Instead of waiting for an answer, Nat just pushed his shoulders down slightly so she could see if she was correct, “I knew it did! Plus it looks like Stark has a similar idea,” Nat commented, pointing subtly at them again.

Bucky’s gaze followed to see Stark pulling what looked like an unwilling blonde kid until he just stops and another kid catches up to them, “Seems like that plans been stopped.”

“Asshole,” Nat grumbles, “Is that a bow and arrow?” 

“Shocked about that Nat? You carry two hunting knives and a gun in your boot, you can’t talk,” Bucky scoffed, gesturing towards her boot where if you looked hard enough, you could just make out her gun. 

“I’m Russian,” she answered shortly, shooting him an icy stare.

“So am I, you don’t see me carrying weapons,” he pointed out, cocking his head in exaggerated while trying to rub his palms together to get rid of the sweat. It wasn’t even a hot day, but Bucky was sweating more than a pig in a butcher’s shop.

“Yes I do, you’ve gotten a pocket knife in your sock and a throwing knife in your jacket pocket.” She raised her eyebrows at him victory while he patted his jacket, “Left pocket,” she added with a smirk. Sure enough, there was a throwing knife there. Huh, he hadn’t even noticed. 

Instead of mentioning that it’s more of the fact that they were both training to join the FBI and not because they were Russian, he just laughed and nudged her while speaking, “Fine, you win this round.” He rolled his eyes, giving a sarcastic round of applause to her, still half-watching the blonde guy. Apparently, something funny was said because bow and arrow kid was laughing his ass off.

“What do I win Barnes?” Nat smirked, her eyes bright and mischievous. Oh no, that was not good.

“Whatever you want Romanov.” He might as well just bite the bullet like a true Russian would. They probably wouldn’t nowadays honestly, but going off stereotypes, sure. Although Bucky wasn’t too stereotypical as a Russian, he couldn’t do a single bar trick and his cocktails tasted more like they’d been regurgitated rather than mixed.

“Time to meet your soulmate, Barnes!”

“Pardon?”

“You said I could have whatever I wanted.” Nat was grinning manically, “We’re going to go over there and find out if he’s your soulmate.” Simple enough apparently.

“Any plan on that?” he questioned doubtfully, “Or are you just going to improvise it like you always do?” 

“What do you think Barnes?” Nat called over her shoulder as she headed towards them leaving Bucky no choice, but to follow. Well, he could probably ignore her, but he knew Nat and he knew she would still go ahead with it and he’d rather be there for the damage (aka humiliation) control.

“Hey, are you that Stark guy?” she called when they were only a little bit away from the group where the blonde guy seemed to be caught in between glaring at Stark or the archer guy.

“Who’s asking?” Stark called back in response, looking at them sceptically. He carried an aura of rich douchebag somewhat which Bucky was trying his best to ignore because if this guy is his soulmate, he’d probably end up spending a lot of time with the guy. He was also trying his best to ignore how itchy his palms were because they were so damn annoying.

“A keen coffee cup reader.” Okay, where in hell was she going with this?

“You can’t possibly read my coffee cup from there,” Stark deadpanned, his eyebrows raising in clear disbelief. Clearly, he hadn’t met someone training to join the FBI.

“That’s Nat for you, she has the eyesight of an eagle and the hearing of a bat,” Bucky laughed slightly, feeling very awkward as he scratched the back of his neck, “Evolution hit her like a truck,” he added, trying his best to reduce the blush coming onto his cheeks. Okay, yep, this guy had a pretty good chance of being his soulmate or he was coming down with something. The guy seemed to be avoiding looking at Bucky which made his heart sink more than it should have.

“A bit like Rogers over there except it was puberty for him and it avoided him like the plague,” Stark smirked and although he knew that he was just joking, Bucky felt the anger rise in him at the idea of someone making fun of the blonde kid. Okay, yeah, the blonde kid is his soulmate a hundred percent. Especially since Stark just called him Rogers and that’s the name etched into the back of his neck.

“Go piss in your soup and choke on it Stark,” Rogers muttered, glaring icily at Stark. The bow and arrow kid pretty much choked on his laughter while Bucky snorted at that insult. Everyone was right when they said his soulmate was sarcastic. What they hadn’t said but was also true, his soulmate was very pretty. He was silently fighting the urge to just kiss him right there. Mostly because that would be non-consensual and would probably piss him off. 

“Jesus Rogers, who pissed in your Cheerios?” Stark was glancing incredulously at Rogers while the other kid seemed to be protesting at Stark for stealing his line. These were a weird group of people.

“You when you kidnapped me from your lecture because you felt like getting coffee,” Rogers replied, his eyes locked on Stark. Goddamn it, why wouldn’t he look at Bucky? He couldn’t have done something wrong already, that was impossible. Bucky was going to fuck something up inevitably, but he wasn’t that bad.

“Whatever Rogers, you know you love Starbucks.” Stark brushed Rogers off again, making Bucky slightly angry again, “Anyway, is there any reason you two decided to join us?”

Bucky glanced at Nat and just knew she was going to do something from her smile, “Yeah, just wondering if either of you guys know anything about climbing my friend here like a tree?” Fuck.

“Jesus Christ Nat!” Bucky exclaimed while sounds of choked laughs and guffaws sounded out. Bucky glanced at Steve who was staring at Nat with his eyes bulge and his face bright red. That shouldn’t be cute, but it was cute. 

He still wouldn’t look at Bucky, though. Did he do something wrong? Oh god, he must have done something wrong. He always did something wrong. He always messed up. He never got good grades, he got kicked off all the sports teams because of his temper, he fucked up his relationship with his father and he’s the one who asked his Mom to pick him up on the night she had an accident. Bucky always messed up.

Glancing down slightly, brushing a stray tear from his eye. He really didn’t want to start crying right now. 

“Well, I think we should leave the soulmates alone?” Stark seemed more like he wanted the advice of the others than giving a suggestion. Bucky bet that wouldn’t happen often.

“I think so too big boy.” Nat smirked at Bucky, before whispering into his ear, “You’re not going to fuck it up Bucky, he’s your soulmate.” She threw her arms around Stark and archer kid and led them away, mentioning some kind of coffee. She looked back slightly, mouthing something to Bucky that he was too panicked to read it. She’d just left him to fuck it all up like he always did. 

“Um hi?” Bucky shuffled his feet awkwardly, having literally no idea what to do. Damn it, he was going to mess this up even more. Why couldn’t he ever do anything right?

“Hi.” He almost missed it, it was almost a squeak, but Bucky’s heart warmed at him actually talking to him. He still had no idea how to respond. Was he meant to introduce himself? Talk about himself? Kiss him like they did in the movies?

“Shit, you’re a lot prettier up close than far away!” Of course, that was the exclamation that came out of Bucky’s mouth. Of fucking course.

“What?” Rogers finally looked up, his eyes wide open and confused. It was not fair how he was looking at Bucky, through his lashes like that. That look should be illegal; that was not fair to Bucky.

“You’re a lot prettier now that I can see your face rather than your silhouette?” Bucky sounded insane, he knew he sounded insane, “Although you looked like you were full of determination from far away rather than the aura? The aura you have now.” Bucky cut himself, knowing he was rambling. He didn’t know what to say and he kept getting distracted by Rogers’ eyes and how pretty they were. 

“You… you noticed me?” Rogers was looking at the ground again as he mumbled in confusion which confused Bucky even more so this was more of a game of who can get more confused and misunderstandings than a meeting.

“Of course I did, you’re a lot more interesting than the people around you.” Bucky’s nose scrunched up as he spoke, trying to fight the urge to just grapple Rogers in a bear hug. Clearly, the guy just needed a hug and Bucky really wanted to give him a hug.

“Oh.” Rogers blinked a few times as if he was trying to comprehend what Bucky was saying, “No one has done that before,” he added, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

“I don’t know why they’d do that Doll, you’re too amazing to ignore.” He had no idea where that or the nickname came from it, but Rogers met his eyes with a big smile on his face. Bucky had an overwhelming urge to squeal like a five-year-old. He hadn’t even noticed that either one or both of them had closed the gap between the two of them and he could feel Rogers’ body warmth.

“Can I kiss you?” Bucky whispered, leaning down to meet Rogers on his level, his eyes trained on his lips. Rogers nodded softly and that was enough for Bucky to lean in and crash his lips against Rogers’. It was just a soft kiss, gentle and sweet, just like a first kiss should be. Despite that, it felt like fireworks were going off around them and everything just fit perfectly.

They pulled back breathless and smiling, “You know, I still don’t your name Doll,” Bucky laughed softly, playing with Roger’s hair.

“Steve,” he breathed out in response, smiling like a fool and leaning into Bucky.

“Steve, I like the sound of that.”

**Author's Note:**

> come scream with me on [tumblr](https://island-of-asteria.tumblr.com/)


End file.
